How To Replace The Starter On A Kawasaki mule 610

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Today we will be showing you how to replace the starter on a kawasaki mule 610. We are going to be showing you on this 2014 kawasaki mule 610 XC. The XC just means this mule just has extra ground clearance. This will definitely work for 2006-2014 as I have both years and nothing has changed between them as long as the mule has the KAF 400 engine. You may want to ensure that the starter part number is the same and that the number of teeth on the flywheel hasn’t changed.

To start we will need to flip up the seat and look straight down near the e-brake on the drivers side you will see the battery location. Next we can grab a phillips screwdriver or a 10mm socket and ratchet which works best for removing the battery connections. You will want to remove the negative terminal first and then the positive side terminal.

Now with the battery disconnected we can go onto the passenger side of the mule and behind the seat on this side just under the rear cargo area you will see the bed release to tip the bed up. We can undo the latch and tip the bed up. You may want to remove the bed/ rear cargo area off the mule. There is a plug/ connector to undo the wiring near the brake light. Then at the hinge point you can remove the cotter pins from the bigger pins that the bed articulates on. Once you have those cotter pins removed we can lower the bed down and remove the bigger pins that the bed articulates on and then remove the entire bed/ cargo area.

With all that done we are ready to replace the starter. If you look right on top of the motor you will be able to locate the starter. There are two plastic bendable clips that hold our wiring in place. While bend them and open them up so we can move our wiring out of the way when we go to remove the starter.

Once the wires are out of the way we can grab a 12mm wrench and remove the nut that holds the battery cable to the stud of the starter solenoid and then remove the cable. Next we can use our fingers or a pair of needle nose pliers and remove the spade connections off the starter solenoid coming from the key of the mule.

With both electrical connections removed we can start to remove the bolts that hold the starter to the engine. For the top bolt we’ll use that 12mm wrench again to remove the top 12mm bolt in the starter. For the lower 12mm bolt that holds the starter to the engine we’ll use a 12mm deep socket and ratchet and we’ll remove that bolt from the side of the mule. If you go behind the shock above the rear drivers tire you will see the flywheel and the engine ID plates and just behind those is the lower starter bolt that we need to remove.

Once you have the two 12mm bolts removed that hold the starter to the engine you can try and remove the starter. Sometimes you can get it out but it is much easier if you remove the two 14mm bolts that hold the shift linkage bracket in place. So we’ll put the mule into neutral as that seems the best spot to relieve the tension on the shift bracket. Then next we can grab that ratchet again and put a 14mm socket on and remove those two 14mm bolts out of the shift linkage bracket. With those bolts removed we can push the bracket out of the way.

Now with that shift linkage out of the way we can now remove the old starter. If the starter isn’t free sometimes the black cover that it goes into could cause it to get hung up. So if you need to you can loosen or remove a few of the 10mm bolts that hold that cover in place and that should free up that starter.

With the old starter out we can unpackage our new starter and get ready to install it by making sure our wires are out of the way and our two electrical connections that go to the starter we are still able to get to. With the new starter in we can start both bolts by hand. Once we have them both started by hand we can use the 12mm wrench and tighten the top bolt to hold the new starter to the engine. Next we can grab the 12mm deep socket and ratchet and tighten the lower bolt.

With the new starter bolted in we can now reconnect our electrical. We’ll start by putting the spade key connection onto the starter solenoid. With that one on we can remove the nut by hand off the stud and slide the eyelet cable end onto the solenoid stud. We’ll start the 12mm nut by hand and then tighten it with the 12mm wrench and replace the protective boot over it.

Next we can put the wires back into the bendable clips to hold it from moving around. Once we have those wires back into position we can reconnect the battery. This is a good time to clean the battery posts and the battery terminal ends. You can use a small wire brush to do this. You will want to reconnect the positive side first and then the negative side. This battery is like a motorcycle battery with those small blocks that the screws/ bolts go into so you maybe need a small flat screwdriver to put in there and raise the block so the screws will start.

With the battery reconnected we can now try and start the mule and test the new starter. As you see this mule starter right up and is starting great now.